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Renowned
Indian filmmaker Yash Chopra, actress Shabana Azmi and Civil Aviation
Minister Praful Patel will be conferred honorary doctorates by the
Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) during the IIFA Weekend in
Yorkshire next week.
LMU,
which calls itself "India's favourite British university", is closely
involved with the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) event. Many
of its students have volunteered to work at the various IIFA events
planned across the five Yorkshire towns of Leeds, York, Bradford, Hull
and Sheffield from June 7 to 10.
The honorary doctorates will be presented to Chopra, Patel and Azmi at the University Convocation Hall June 7.
On
the occasion of India celebrating 60 years of its independence, the
university wishes to commemorate India's freedom struggle by honouring
prominent Indian personalities who have contributed to the emergence of
India as a fast developing, economically strong and cinema-proud
nation.
Expressing delight at being selected for the honorary
doctorate, Patel said: "It is a matter of great pride for me to accept
this doctorate from such a prestigious institution. India and the UK go
back a long way and have very close political, economic and education
ties. In the UK, 1.3 million Indians live and our cultural and social
ties are only growing. To be recognised for such an honour makes me
extremely proud."
Simon Lee, vice-chancellor of the university,
said: "We wish to honour the people of India by recognizing champions
of culture, enterprise and public service and as IIFA comes to
Yorkshire to celebrate 60 years of Independence fostering mutual
respect."
LMU has launched a pioneering new partnership with
IIFA, which it believes will strengthen educational, business, arts and
sporting links with India and offer Leeds Met scholarships to winners
of global competitions.
Two academic chairs, the IIFA Chair for
Global Cinema and an India Chair celebrating 60 years of Indian
independence, will be established, and it is intended that the
partnership will also provide numerous opportunities for students to
get involved with Indian Cinema, raising the profile of Leeds Met's
Northern Film School.
A formal partnership agreement was signed
earlier this year by global ambassador for the IIFA, Amitabh Bachchan,
and the director of student-centred change management at Leeds Met, Joy
Kumar.
Leeds Met students and staff are playing an active role
in the planning and delivery of the IIFA Weekend in Yorkshire,
including the charity cricket match at Headingley Carnegie Stadium
where a host of Indian stars will compete in front of an anticipated
crowd of 18,000.
Lee added: "We have many students from India and we would like our whole university to become better students of India.
"We
will give what we can to this special partnership and we know we have
much to learn. From the inspirational heritage of the struggle for
Indian independence through to the grace and artistry of the
contemporary Indian film industry, this partnership will take us all
beyond boundaries."
Indo-Asian News Service
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